Whisper of a Thrill
by Kamers of Carp
Summary: MWPP RLOC SBOC “It’s not what it looks like!” I insisted, knowing that whenever someone says that, it only makes it seem even more what it looks like.
1. Aludra Remembers When

_**IMPORTANT NOTE! While this fic is categorized under Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, it is NOT slash.**  
_

_**  
Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. "Whisper of a Thrill" is an orchestrated song by Thomas Newman from the movie "Meet Joe Black." The song "Remember When" is by Alan Jackson and we do not, in any way, own it._

**Whisper of a Thrill  
Chapter One: Remember When**

_Remember when  
Old ones died  
New were born  
Life was changed  
We came together, fell apart  
Broke each other's hearts_

"Here is your drink, Miss Batsakis," Rosmerta said timidly, placing the mug of Butterbeer in front of me.

Seated atop a bar stool, I couldn't help but wonder for the umpteenth time why I was there. Why did I insist on returning to a place that, despite the many happy memories that had taken place within the four walls of the pub, caused me so much pain?

With much effort, I allowed myself to look across the pub to where a young couple was sharing a mug of Butterbeer that I knew better as the place where James had proposed to Lily that Hogsmeade weekend that felt like so long ago. I knew that on the top of that wooden table were scrawled six signatures that had donned the table since the day before my seventeenth birthday - ages ago, or so it seemed. Through the window, I could see the bench I had been sitting in when Remus, had told me the news about Natalia only weeks before. Then, gazing back at the line of booths under the window, I recognized the place where I had shared my first kiss with…him.

I swallowed hard, trying to ignore the fact that my eyes had welled up with tears for the - oh, who knows how many times a day I cried anymore. I swallowed hard, forcing past that lump in my throat.

"Can I get you anything else, Miss Batsakis?"

"My name is not Miss Batsakis," I replied proudly, giving the barmaid a far angrier look than she probably deserved. "It's Aludra Black."

* * *

"Damn these stupid trunks and all the damn stuff I need to fit in it thus making them far too heavy," I grumbled under my breath, struggling to pull my trunk onto the Hogwarts Express as I jugged the cage that held my tawny owl, Chara. 

I looked a few yards away where my mum was fussing over my younger sisters, Iris, a fifth year, and Calysta, a third year, who were both Hufflepuffs, as she had been. I sighed heavily, wishing my dad had been able to see us off as well, seeing as I had been pushed aside as soon as we had gotten onto Platform 9 and ¾.

"Need some help, Allie?"

"Oh, my hero," I nodded, smiling at James Potter, who had his own trunk behind him. With one great push, he'd managed to heave my trunk onto the train.

"Bloody hell, Allie," he commented as I jumped onto the train to help him with his own trunk. "What did you bring - bricks?"

"Yes, James, I packed bricks in my trunk," I replied sarcastically, following him down the aisle of the Express and almost wondering if I had. Eventually we stopped in front of the compartment my group of friends and I had deemed as our own on the ride back to London after our first year at Hogwarts.

"Out," James said to a group of first years, cowering at the mere sight of the two big, bad sixth years that were James and I, and they quickly scampered out of the compartment.

From across the aisle, there was a loud scoff. As James continued forward, not hearing the noise, I glanced over my shoulder to see Lily Evans, accompanied by her own friends, Dorcas Meadowes and Sarah Wickersham, giving James and me a very disapproving look.

"Wotcher, Evans," I greeted, giving her a lopsided grin.

The tall redhead looked surprised, as though she hadn't expected me to address her and that her disapproval of James and I would go unnoticed. Lily swallowed hard before giving me a steady nod and pushed her friends into the compartment across from the one James was in, busying himself by putting my trunk away. Before the compartment door slid shut, I plainly heard Sarah say, "She is _so_ weird!" making me grin even more.

Once settled into the compartment, I crossed my legs daintily and looked at James. He looked preoccupied - which had been obvious when his finely tuned Lily Evans radar hadn't gone off yet with her being so close.

"Okay, what do you want?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"What are you - "

Before he could finish his sentence, the compartment door slid open, allowing Remus Lupin to stumble into it. Very wearily, he managed to drag his trunk into the compartment with great effort.

"You look quite peaky, Moony," James greeted, his hands folded on his lap.

"Do I really, Prongs?" Remus asked as I got to my feet to aid him. "Thanks so much for letting me know."

"And you're bad-tempered, too," James shook his head, tutting as he searched his bag for his trademark Golden Snitch that seemed to have been attached to his hand since the fourth year. "Don't you have a prefect meeting?"

"Yes, I do," Remus nodded as I helped him pull his trunk underneath one of the seats, neither of us wanting to heft it into the luggage racks.

"James, leave him alone," I reprimanded, pushing Remus onto the compartment seat to take a breather. "It's only been, what, two days since the full moon?"

"Yeah," Remus sighed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. "The only good thing about it is I don't have to worry about transforming for a whole month."

"Pity," James shrugged as the warning whistle blew, signifying that the train would be leaving in only moments. "I rather miss our little adventures over the summer."

"Pity for you, perhaps," Remus swallowed hard, rubbing his eyes hard with the palm of his hand. "I'm rather okay with the time between months."

James opened his mouth to make a comment, but was struck dumb when the last three members of our group of friends came into the compartment, two of them joined at the face.

Peter Pettigrew sat down between Remus and I, a disgusted look on his face as we all surveyed Sirius Black and Natalia Gianinni continue to explore the insides of each other's mouths with their tongues. After a few moments of silence, James finally cleared his throat and tapped Sirius hard on the back from their seated place next to him.

"Hey, mate, how d'you manage that without coming up for air?"

At this, Sirius and Natalia seemed to realize that they weren't alone in the compartment and managed to pull apart from each other. Natalia flushed slightly as Sirius rolled his eyes.

"You can breathe through your nose, you know."

"Well, before he can launch into this tutorial," Remus interrupted, getting to his feet as the train began to pull away from King's Cross, "I'm going to go down to the damn prefect carriage. I'll be back."

"You don't want to take notes, Remus?" I asked, batting my eyelashes at my life-long best friend. "You aren't planning on snogging anyone anytime soon?"

"No, Aludra," Remus glared at me, using my actual name for added effect, as I loathed it. "I'm not." He then turned to stop James, whose mouth had popped open. "And, no, James, I am not saving myself for a bloke. For the last time, I'm not gay."

"Which is a pity, because you'd be just the cutest little gay werewolf," Natalia grinned, allowing her right hand to slowly travel up Sirius's neck and into his hair.

"I hate you all," Remus stated, then pulled the compartment door open.

"No you don't, Moony," Sirius smirked. "Besides, you'd be completely bored without us around."

"I'd find some way to entertain myself, I'm sure," Remus mused, stepping out of the compartment and sliding the door shut before anyone could say anything cheeky in return.

"He just doesn't appreciate our humour nearly as much as he used to," James mused, noticing that Peter was gaping at him as he always did while he played with his Snitch. He smirked happily.

James seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Sirius and Natalia had returned to their previous activities next to him, completely content with amusing Peter, who would let out a squeal of delight every so often, which would cause James only to smirk more. After a few moments of me trying to distinguish which was more disgusting - listening to Sirius and Natalia playing tonsil hockey or watching James's head grow in front of me - I cleared my throat and jumped to my feet. When I did so, I knocked the Snitch out of James's hand, allowing it to fly around the compartment freely.

"Do you know how hard it is to catch it again, Allie?" James groaned, watching the golden ball flit around the top of the compartment, trying to find a way out.

With one swift movement, I jumped up and snatched the Snitch from where it was floating above my trunk and held it out to James. "Oh, yes, terribly difficult."

"Shut it," James glared at me, then, as though he was thinking better of it, softened his look and stowed the ball in his pocket. "Thanks."

"Anytime," I shrugged. What can I say? Growing up with Remus and my older brother, Lukas, as playmates had sculpted me into the Quidditch loving tomboy that I now was at sixteen.

"Hey, Allie, I want to show you something," James got to his feet, jerking his head at the compartment door. "Come with me?"

"Sure," I nodded, happy for an excuse to get away from our snogging friends.

"Hey, wait for - "

James cut Peter off by sliding the compartment door shut quickly. I couldn't help but let out a laugh as he looked at me playfully.

"What, exactly, do you want?"

"In time," James held up a finger, obviously trying to look as though he was Dumbledore as he gazed at me over the top of his square glasses.

I followed James down the train until he stopped suddenly. Confused, I stood on my tiptoes to see past James, who seemed to have sprouted more than a few inches over the summer.

"What's going on - oh, _Snivellus_." I let out an annoyed sound, not wanting to deal with moderating between the two archrivals. "Come on, James, leave it be."

However, before I could pull James back, Snape had his wand out, glaring at James from behind his greasy black hair. Just as quickly, James pointed his own wand at the Slytherin.

"Good summer, Potter?" Snape spat at James, his black eyes narrowing.

"It was brilliant as I didn't have to see you at all," James shot back, pushing me away as I tried to pull back his arm.

Noticing, Snape noted, "Leave him be, Batsakis. I don't need help from a blood traitor like you."

"I'm not trying to help _you_, Snivellus," I scorned, giving him a dark look. "I just don't want to deal with this only fifteen minutes into the term."

James, on the other hand, took a step toward Snape and growled, "Don't call her that."

"Finally given up on the mudblood, have you?" Snape sneered. "Maybe you aren't all bad, Potter - at least Batsakis is a pureblood."

James rose his wand angrily, but, as he opened his mouth to shout a hex, someone shouted, _"Expelliarmus!"_ from behind us, causing James's wand to fly out of his hand and nearly hit me in the face, but I caught it squarely nonetheless.

"Evans," James said breathlessly, turning his back on Snape.

As soon as he did, Snape raised his wand at James and I shouted the same incantation Lily had just seconds earlier, his wand landing between James and me.

"You couldn't even wait until we got to Hogwarts?" Lily asked, Remus behind her, looking thoroughly amused by the situation.

"Er, did your prefect meeting get out early?" James asked, mussing up his hair and absentmindedly stepping on Snape's wand, which let out a resounding crack under his weight.

"Don't pretend you care," Lily narrowed her eyes. "Get out of the hallway or I'll give the three of you a detention."

I opened my mouth angrily to shout at the bossy red head, however the look on Remus's face told me to shut up. I obeyed, but gave Lily a nasty look that she saw fit to return before disappearing into her compartment.

Once she was out of sight, James turned back to his old self and twisted his foot, making sure Snape's wand was thoroughly broken. Then, acting surprised, he exclaimed, "Oops! Looks like you'll be needing a new wand, Snivellus."

"You'll pay for that!" Snape growled, wrenching his wand out from under James's foot and giving him one more dirty look before disappearing into his compartment.

"Are you ever going to grow out of messing with him?" I asked angrily, poking James hard in the stomach with his wand.

"Probably not," James admitted, taking his wand and stowing it back in his robes. "All right, Moony?"

"Of course," Remus replied, stopping in front of their compartment. "Sirius and Nat are back at it in there, aren't they."

"Why d'you think we're out here?" I asked. "Well, besides James practicing being a git, of course."

"Wonderful," Remus sighed heavily, then walked into the compartment anyways.

"Now, which compartment do we want to go in," James mused, looking around.

After a few seconds, James wrenched one of the doors open, revealing the same first years he had told to leave the last compartment we had wanted to go into. They gave us the same frightened look, most likely because they had seen what had gone on just outside their compartment moments ago.

"Out," James said simply.

"But everywhere else is full!" one of the first years, a blonde girl, piped up, then blushed furiously afterwards.

"Does it look like I care?" James asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the train hallway.

The six first years grumbled loudly as the filed out, leaving the compartment empty for the two of us to inhabit.

"I'm not terribly sure that was nice of you," I admitted, bringing one of my knees to my chest so I could tie my shoe. "Aren't we supposed to look out for the younger students as more experienced witches and wizards?"

"I have a preposition for you," James pushed forward, ignoring me.

"Er, that can't be a good thing," I replied apprehensively.

"Whatever do you mean?" James asked me, trying to be innocent.

"Oh, please, James," I rolled my eyes. "We're going on our sixth year of friendship - I'm pretty sure I know you better than that."

"All right, you got me," James sighed, lounging across for me with his hands behind his head, putting his feet on the seat next to me. "Over the summer, I came up with a bit of a foolproof plan on how I will win the lovely Lily Evans's heart."

I let out a snort of laughter. "Yeah, okay, James."

"I'm serious!" James insisted, dropping his hands to his lap. "This is a great plan. However, I'm going to need your help in order to pull it off."

"I surmised as much," I replied, leaning my chin on my knee. "Let's hear this plan."

"Everyone knows that girls are daft - "

"You're on a roll on this one aren't you, James."

" - and when someone perfect for them is dangling in front of their noses, poised perfectly for them to snatch up, they'll ignore it," James continued as though I hadn't said anything.

"Yes, Evans is just like the rest of us," I waved my hand dismissively. "I've heard you tell me this loads of times. Do you have anything important to add to it?"

"You see, the fatal flaw that girls also possess is the fact that once that perfect someone is snatched up by someone else, they realize the error of their ways," James continued to explain. "So, the idea is that if I am snatched up - "

"No way, James," I put my hands up to stop him. "You want me to pretend to be your girlfriend because you somehow think Evans will fall over herself for you?"

"When you say it like that it just sounds so daft."

"That's because it is, daft, you git," I crossed my arms over my chest, dropping my foot to the ground. "Honestly, James, ask Nat - she's almost crazy enough to go along with something like that."

"In case you haven't noticed, Nat seems to be a bit busy with a certain best mate of mine," James cocked his head. "Come on, Allie, it'd be perfect."

"It won't work, James," I shook my head. "Besides, the reason Evans doesn't like you isn't because you're single. It's because you turn into an arrogant blighter whenever she's in the vicinity."

"I do not!" James said defiantly, digging in his robes to take out his struggling Snitch.

"James, the only time she ever sees you is when you're hexing Snape or something that accidentally brushed into you in the hallways at school," I pointed out, watching him play with the ball absentmindedly. "On top of the fact that you seem to think that combs are just a myth - "

"My hair does this on its own," James jutted out his chin angrily.

"Perhaps, but I'm sure it doesn't help that you're constantly messing it up yourself," I added. "And that damn Snitch - " I reached over and grabbed it out of mid-air before James could and held it out of his reach.

"Hey - "

"Okay, only because I feel sorry for you am I even considering this ludicrous idea of yours," I started, giving him a look. "However, we're going to lay down some ground rules. First, this is only temporary, therefore no hanky-panky will be involved. Maybe quick kisses on the cheek when around people, but I refuse to snog with you at any time."

"Naturally," James said happily, obviously thinking he'd won.

"Second, if, after a month, Lily does not show any sign of not hating you, we will have a tragic and emotional break-up that will include me breaking up with you," I continued, ticking off two fingers on my hand that wasn't holding James's Snitch. "It will involve something relating to you cheating on me or something equally if not more embarrassing for your ego."

"Fair enough," James nodded, although giving me an uneasy look.

"Third, you will bring the hexing, goading, bragging, pranking, and overall Marauder-like behaviour down at least three to five notches," I continued.

"I don't - "

"These rules are nonnegotiable," I interrupted as I got to my feet. I wrenched the window open, allowing a steady stream of wind to make my dark hair fly back. "Fourth, this damn Snitch has to go." I threw the Snitch out the window, causing James to gasp.

"You know how long it took me to nick that one?"

"I'm sure you'll find a new one before next week," I rolled my eyes, forcing the door shut. "Fifth, if we want this to be believable at all, we are the only ones you can know that it's fake."

"What do you mean?" James asked, still giving the window stricken looks.

"Look, our friends are great and all, but they all have big mouths - even Remus," I smirked. "If they know, it won't be long before everyone in Hogwarts knows about this façade we're trying to pull off and you might as well just kiss Evans goodbye. Well, if you could kiss her we probably wouldn't be in this situation then, would we?"

"Thanks for reminding me," James replied. "Are those the only rules?"

I furrowed my brow, trying to think if I'd missed anything important. "No, I suppose that just about covers everything."

"And you're sure about this?" James asked. "You won't back out last minute?"

"Marauder's honour," I gave him a grin, holding out my hand to him as I borrowed the term I'd heard James and the other boys use so often.

James grinned back at me and shook my hand vigorously. "Marauder's honour."

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Quick explanation. This story is cowritten by me, kamers, and my darling cousin, La Mariposa. I will be writing as Aludra Batsakis, the young lady you met in this chapter, while La Mariposa will switch point of views for Natalia Gianinni. The chapters will not necessarilly be every other, so we will alert you as to whose point of view it is in by the chapter title. _

_Anyways, that's about it for now. I hope that you enjoyed this oh so much and if you're interested, feel free to check out the other things the two of us have written. :-)_

_kamers_


	2. Natalia's Dangerous Game

**CHAPTER TWO: **_Dangerous Game_

I feel your fingers -  
Cold on my shoulder -  
Your chilling touch,  
As it runs down my spine –

Watching your eyes  
As they invade my soul -  
Forbidden pleasures  
I'm afraid to make mine.

Natalia Gianinni. Nat Gianinni. Nat Black. Natalia Black.

Sirius Black. Siri. Siri-poo.

I gave a snort of laughter at this thought, which wasn't really a great idea seeing as Sirius was currently trying to inhale my face. He jerked back at the sudden explosion of nasal air in his face, giving me an incredulous look.

"Bloody hell, Nat!"

"Sorry…"

"What was that!"

"I, uh, I laughed," I answered lamely, crinkling my nose.

"That was a laugh?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Bloody hell… Was I that horrible?"

"No! No, of course not, Sirius! I was just thinking of something…"

"What?"

Hmm, let's see. My name with yours tacked on. The nickname Siri. The nickname Siri-poo.

I snorted again.

"What!"

"Sorry, sorry. It was … 'Siri-poo'."

"Siri-poo!"

"Er, yeah…"

"You're not gonna start calling me that, are you?"

"No! No, of course not! Bloody hell, no!"

"Good…" He then returned to kissing me, trailing down my neck and shoulders, where I had on only a short, midriff tank top. I tipped my head back, closing my eyes at the wonderful feeling, but my overactive mind came up with another, which made me laugh out loud this time. "Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up and off me. "What is it this time!"

"Si-Si."

"What!" He scratched his head, looking rather amazed, but not in a good way.

"I'm sorry, Sirius… Sit down, please. Come here…" He hesitantly obliged, placing his hand gingerly on mine, as if I was going to explode any moment. The thought of this almost made me laugh again, but I held it in. "Hey, I don't bite…"

"Worse. You laugh."

I chuckled softly.

"See!" But he grinned. It was that devilishly handsome grin that I loved so much. Stupid grin…

"I thought you liked me laughing!"

"Not when I'm trying to snog!"

Snog? Try "inhale"! "Sorry, Padfoot. I'll stop laughing when you're trying to inhale me."

"What?"

"I said I'll stop laughing when you're trying to snog," I lied flawlessly. I was quite the actress, if I do say so myself.

"Okay, thanks." He returned to his work, pushing up the tank top and lifting it over my head, so that I raised my arms with it around my wrists. He kissed my chest for a while before moving down my stomach. He played with my belly button while running his fingers lightly down my spine, causing me to shiver and let out a girlish giggle. Then he came up and stared straight into my blue-grey eyes with his own blue-grey ones. I felt I could look all the way into his soul, but for some reason, I shrunk back, almost fearful as he began to unbutton my jeans.

"No, Sirius…"

"Natalia, keep your clothes on!"

We both jumped at the voice. It was Allie, coming back in with James – hand-in-hand. I quickly tugged my shirt back on over my chest and refastened my jean button.

"Yes, _Aludra_." I sat up, combing through my wavy red hair to tame it. "So, what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Allie asked innocently, but I noticed that she tensed.

"That." I pointed directly at where James' hand held fast around her own.

"Oh, er, yeah. That…"

"Yeah, that. Explain."

"Yeah, Prongs, spill! I'm your best mate!" Sirius complained.

"Well, uh…" Allie began, but she stopped.

James quickly finished for her. "We're together."

Sirius' jaw dropped, but I raised my eyebrow. "About bloody time!"

"What?"

"Allie's only been going on and on about you every night her in diary since third year!"

"Nat!"

I feigned a look of shock. "Oops! Did I say that out loud?"

"Natalia!"

I shrugged, grinning. Remus opened the door just then, saving me any further trouble. He had his eyes covered with his hand, the other groping around as he stumbled in.

"Alright, Moony?" James asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Have they stopped?"

"Yes, Remus, we stopped. Now sit down, Prongs and Allie have the most _wonderful_ news!" I batted my eyes playfully, which he seemed to stare at a moment longer than was necessary before looking at the pair.

"We're together," spat James, getting it over with quickly.

Remus froze, jaw dropping. "Together as in…?"

"She's my girlfriend."

"Merlin… Are you sure?"

"Remus!"

"Sorry, sorry. But why?"

"I…like her. And she likes me." I couldn't help but notice that his expression as he said this was rather pained. Allie didn't look much better. I decided to rescue them, but first I'd have a little bit of fun with this lie they were attempting to pull off.

"So give her a kiss."

James blanched. Allie turned red. Apparently, though, I was the only one who had picked up on the falseness of this new event. The others were just quite bemused.

"Go on. If you two are really together, giving her a kiss should be nothing, right?"

---

Author's Note: Hi, everyone. This is La Mariposa. You can call me Carp. Don't ask how or why, but it's short for Mariposa. Lol. Anyway, I'll be writing for Natalia Gianinni. And I'm very tired, seeing as it's 1:28 AM right now. So I'm gonna put this up now.

-Carp


	3. Come Down To Aludra

_**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Come Down To Me" is by Saving Jane and I do not own it in any way._

**Thrill of a Whisper  
Chapter Three: Come Down To Me**

_I'm just dreaming out loud  
I can't have you for mine and I know it   
I just wanna watch you shine_

Oh, bloody hell.

This was direct violation of clause one of the contract James and I had agreed upon. I stole a glance at James and noticed that his mind was mulling over the same thing. Then again, not complying with Nat would, in turn, break rule number five.

The choices, the choices. What I really wanted to do was throttle Nat, but I figured that wouldn't go over entirely too well.

Realizing just how long the two of us had been standing in stunned silence, I scoffed, rolled my eyes, and sat down in a huff.

"You know, Nat, just because you and Sirius see fit to swap spit in front of everyone doesn't mean James and I have to."

"Yeah," James replied lamely, sitting next to me and, after a moment's hesitation, put his arm around my shoulders.

"Oh, come on," Nat egged us on, her eyes full of mischief.

"Yeah, Prongs, don't be such a yawn," Sirius smirked, folding his arms over his chest as Remus sat next to him, making me feel as though James and I were some sort of entertainment.

"Bloody - fine!" I shot Nat an angry look.

I turned quickly to James, who was giving me a surprised look. In my head, I was hexing the living brains out of him for getting me into this, but I put a hand on his cheek nonetheless and brought my lips to his for a tender kiss. When I pulled away, James's eyes were still wide in surprise. Acting was not this boy's strong point.

"Happy?" I asked, my eyes narrowing as I turned back in my seat.

"Good enough for me," Sirius shrugged. "Moony, play me at Exploding Snap?"

I pushed myself against the far wall of the compartment, pulling my knees up to my chest so I could lean my chin against the top of them. As I listened to Sirius and Remus organize their game and Peter coming into the compartment, I could feel Nat's unfaltering gaze on me. It made me quite uncomfortable, but there was little I could do without making it obvious that James and I were plunging headfirst into a lie.

I turned to look at James, who turned to face me at the same time. My pale green eyes met his hazel ones and I felt something shift in my stomach. Nat was right - I _had_ been writing about James in my diary since third year, but I had never been gutsy enough to act on my feelings. I had always been "just another one of the guys" when it came to James and I took what I could get.

James's eyes turned questioning, wanting to know if I was all right, leaving me to smile and nod.

"You already have a silent language?" Nat asked in amazement. "How positively vomit inducing."

"What are you talking about?" Peter asked through a mouthful of Cauldron Cake.

I heaved a sigh as Nat launched into the story that her stepbrother had missed and turned back to the window. As a comforting gesture, James reached over and wrapped his right arm around my left leg and I took hold of his hand.

Yeah, it was fake. Nevertheless, that didn't mean I couldn't relish in the moment, right?

* * *

"Allie?" 

"Hi, Remus," I greeted listlessly, not looking up from my gaze at the fireplace.

"Are you all right?"

Oh, yeah. Faaan-tastic. "Of course. Why?"

"You seem a bit off," he raised a questioning eyebrow, perching himself on the arm of the chair I was sitting cross-legged in.

"No, I'm fine," I replied half-heartedly, which I'm sure didn't help my cause. "My mum hardly even acknowledged my presence when we left London. Actually, she didn't so much as say goodbye."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Remus said automatically, giving me an apologetic look. "Was your dad there?"

I shook my head wordlessly. "He had to work."

"Oh."

After a few seconds, I turned to face him and gave him a stricken look. "You know, Rem, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Why can't she just accept me for who I am - chipped black nail polish, tattered trainers, loudmouthed friends, and all? She didn't have a problem with Luke being like me."

"Yes, well, Luke's also - "

"A boy," I said in unison with him. "Well, that's her own fault for making the two of us share a bedroom until he left for Hogwarts."

Remus was silent, not knowing what to say as we had had the discussion what seemed like hundreds of times before and I could never be consoled.

"She hardly even blinked at my OWLs," I sighed. "Eight, Remus - I got eight."

"And?"

"And she sniffed at them because they were all the ones I needed to be an Auror," I gave the fire a disdainful look. "Oh, and because Divination is just guess work - well, of course it is. I have no idea how I scraped an OWL in it."

"You know what, Allie?" Remus asked as I leaned over and rested my head on his thigh. "Your mum is going to have quite the shock when you're a successful and powerful witch and your sisters will only be able to curtsy and pour tea properly."

I gave Remus a good-natured chuckle, knowing that he was trying his hardest to make me feel better. The good thing about having the same best mate since you were five means they know how you tick.

"Allie, why didn't you tell me you like James?"

And there it was.

"We don't really talk about stuff like that," I shrugged, playing with the hem of my skirt absentmindedly.

"Don't we?" Remus asked. "I thought we could talk about everything."

"There's a difference between what we can talk about and what we do talk about, though," I looked up at him for the first time since he sat down, the flickering light of the fire illuminating the scars and marks on his face. "You know?"

Remus looked down at me and met my eyes. Another good thing about having the same best mate since you were five is that no matter how hard they might try to hide it, you always know what they're thinking.

"Stop it, Rem," I looked away from him, not letting him read my mind as he thought he could.

"I can't help it," Remus gave me an apologetic look. "As your best friend, I reserve the right of any 'older brother' duties - "

"'Older brother'?" I raised an eyebrow, looking back at Remus in annoyance. "I'm six months your senior!"

"It's a figure of speech," Remus explained, then continued. "Basically, I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know, Remus," I sighed. "Look, I'm going to be seventeen in two weeks. I think I can handle myself. I do thank you for back in the fourth year when you hexed Theodore Dawson for breaking my heart - "

"You knew that was me?" Remus asked, shocked. "How did you know that?"

"Please, Rem," I smirked smugly. "I'm not a lady Marauder for nothing."

"What was I thinking?" Remus let out a laugh, getting to his feet. "I think I'm going to turn in."

"Me, too," I sighed. "Can you believe we're NEWT students starting tomorrow?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," Remus grimaced.

"Goodnight, Rem," I said, warranting him a smile before retreating to the girls' dormitory.

I hurried up the spiral staircase, passing all the dormitories that I had inhabited the first five years I was at Hogwarts and stopped short of the top of the tower to the sixth year dormitory. Without knocking, I pushed the great cedar door open, revealing my four roommates, Nat, Lily, Dorcas, and Sarah, who were finishing unpacking and tacking up posters. I ignored Lily, Dorcas, and Sarah and hurried over to my bed, which was between Nat's and Lily's. I had done a somewhat lackadaisical unpacking as I couldn't stand listening to the others - well, mainly just Lily, Dorcas, and Sarah - jabber about their summers and boys and anything else that came to mind.

I silently changed into a tank top and pyjama pants as Nat finished putting up a collage of pictures next to her four-poster. I could feel her gaze on me, but I chose to ignore it. Just as I was about to turn in, a rather haughty voice interrupted me.

"So, Allie," Sarah said, flipping her blonde hair over one shoulder from her bed. It looked as though she was writing in a diary of some sort, but I didn't care enough to find out. "Is it true you're dating James Potter?"

I noticed Lily look up from her bed, a surprised expression on her face. "Really?"

"Yeah, I am," I shrugged, pulling a strand of hair behind my ear and willing my face not to turn red. "Why?"

"I was just wondering," Sarah replied, a smirk playing on her lips.

"Well, it's about time he looked at someone who wasn't me," Lily scoffed, not realizing how vain that sounded.

"It turns out he's liked me for quite some time, actually," I began to play with the lie, making a mental note to let James know about this new establishment in our nine hour fake relationship. "We'd just discovered that the feelings were mutual over the summer and talked it out on the Express."

"Looks like you lost your chance, Lily," Nat spoke up, grinning at the redhead.

"Looks that way," Lily shrugged. Then, dripping with sarcasm, she added, "You can bet that I am completely and utterly heartbroken."

Taking advantage of no one talking to me, I climbed into my bed and shut the hangings around me, leaving me in darkness. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as I melted into my pillows, but was rudely disturbed when my hangings were ripped open and shut again.

_'Lumos,'_ Nat muttered, sitting cross-legged on the other end of my bed.

I sighed heavily, making sure she realized how much I didn't want to talk, but sat up nonetheless. Her red hair was illuminated by her wand, which she was holding up lazily.

"Yes?" I asked after a few silent moments.

"I already put a silencing charm on our hangings," Nat said right away, as though that was supposed to comfort me. "As always, we can hear them, but they can't hear us."

"Which means you can kill me right now and they'll have no idea," I nodded, leaning my head on my right hand. "It's the same as every year, Nat."

"I just wanted to make sure you knew so you can tell me the truth," Nat continued, her eyes narrowing slightly to show she meant business.

"What do you want to know?" I asked, already knowing the answer to my question.

"Is there more to your relationship with James than you're letting on?" Nat asked point blank.

Determined to make my best friend believe the lie - there is so much wrong with that sentence - I waited a beat, as though confused as to what she was getting at. Then, I furrowed my brow, the perfect mix of being shocked and insulted.

"Well, we're not about to elope if that's what you're asking," I gave her a contemptuous look.

"No, I mean, is there less to your relationship, I suppose," Nat revised her question, not giving in. "This isn't, like, some sort of lie, is it?"

"Nat, you've read my diary plenty of times - without my consent, I might add," I rolled my eyes, glad I didn't have to completely lie this time. "You know how long I've liked James."

"Yes, well, on the train it just seemed sort of," Nat looked around the hangings, as though the words were printed on them. "I don't know - forced."

"Let me see, Nat," I scoffed. "Why might it have been forced? Oh, that's right, we were being forced to kiss in front of our friends because they didn't buy our relationship."

"Allie, come on, Sirius and I were just kidding around - "

"Well, I didn't find it very funny," I gave her a wounded look, trying to ignore my conscience screaming at me in my head. "You guys take things way too far sometimes."

Nat just looked at me, her expression impossible to read. She seemed to be trying to read my mind, much like Remus had been only moments before.

"I'm really tired, though, Nat," I complained, stretching my legs out again. "Can we talk about this more tomorrow?"

"Are we square?" she asked, giving me a questioning look.

"I'm still upset with you if that answers your question," I replied, pushing her lightly with my foot under the comforter. "Goodnight, Nat."

"Night, Allie," she said. _'Nox.'_

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Woo..lackadaisical. Heck yes for a hundred dollar word. :-) That's what you get when you take college english courses._

_kamers_


	4. Aludra Is Defying Gravity

_**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Defying Grafity" is from Wicked and I do not own it in any way._

**Thrill of a Whisper  
Chapter Four: Defying Gravity**

_Tell them how I am  
Defying gravity  
I'm flying high  
Defying gravity_

"So, let me get this straight," Nat was saying, twirling her quill around, sprinkling her parchment with dots of black ink. "Werewolves are also called lycanthropes."

"Yes," I nodded, lounging in the grass on my stomach and looking at my Defence text with a great dislike.

It was a beautiful early September day - the second Saturday, in fact. The leaves were just beginning to change colour and it was one of the last warm days of the year that didn't call for scarves so we could take off our school robes and not freeze. Nat, Remus, James, and I were writing our Defence Against the Dark Arts essays out on the grounds under a beech tree on the edge of the lake that we frequented.

"And they only change the night of the full moon," Nat continued thoughtfully, wiping her wand over her parchment to clean up the stray ink.

"Obviously," James spoke up, his head propped up in the crook of my back and his text floating above his head with the aid of his wand.

Over the course of the beginning of the term, the two of us had become more accustomed to the relationship we were trying to pull off and it slowly became habit to always sit next to each other, hold hands in public, and occasionally kiss. It was obvious that our original contract had some flaws, so some amendments were made.

"Hm…," Nat furrowed her brow. "Then, Moony - "

"I was waiting for that," Remus mumbled under her breath, not looking up from his parchment, which he was writing his essay without the aid of his text.

" - why are you always gone a day or two after the full moon?"

Remus glanced around to make sure no one was within earshot before he said, "Nat, have you ever turned into a werewolf?"

"Not recently," Nat smirked.

"'Recently'?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Then you wouldn't understand why I'm not entirely up to class," Remus finished, giving her a wry look.

"I see," Nat replied, looking thoughtful again.

After a few silent moments, Nat cleared her throat again.

"So, do you have to be given permission before entering a room or whatever?"

"That's vampires," I corrected her. "However, you could kill him with a silver bullet if you saw fit."

"Really?" Nat asked, looking shocked. "I thought that was just a myth."

"You could probably kill anyone with a silver bullet if you aimed right," James pointed out, reaching up with his wand free hand and flipping the page.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Sirius asked, catching the end of the conversation with Peter, and sat himself down next to Nat, who melted back into his chest.

"Ways to kill me, apparently," Remus raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, can I go fetch my list from our dormitory?" Peter asked, making to get to his feet.

"Ha-ha," Remus replied. "I really need to find a new set of friends - preferably ones who aren't out for my blood."

"Might I remind you, Moony, of just how boring your life would be without us to add a little colour everyday?" Sirius goaded, pulling his hand through his hair.

"It's true," I nodded, running the feather part of my quill along my cheek.

"Oh, hell, I have to go do Quidditch tryouts," James said suddenly, looking at his watch.

With a sigh, he jerked upright, letting go of his wand and allowing his Defence book to drop to the grass next to me. I sat up myself, glancing over at the Quidditch pitch, where a broken queue of Gryffindors was headed.

"I'll come with you," I volunteered, sliding my Defence book and parchment back into my bag.

"Are you going to try out?" James asked, a look of hope on his face. "You'd make a fair Seeker with you build and you're a good flier, if I remember correctly."

"Do you really think so?" I asked.

To be honest, I had been thinking about trying out since third year, but I never really had the gall to do it. Besides, the Gryffindor team hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since our second year and they were quickly becoming an object of scorn, which I wasn't interested in sharing with the rest of the team.

"Oh, don't pretend you're modest, Allie," Nat rolled her eyes. "You've been playing Quidditch since you could manage to fly."

"All right," I shrugged, giving James a smile, who looked as though he was about to cry. "I could at least try out, I suppose."

"You do realize that when you let her on the team, Prongs, everyone's going to figure it's only because you two are dating," Sirius pointed out as James and I both got to our feet.

"I've had worse rumours started about me," James smirked. "Let's go, Allie."

"Good luck!" Remus called after them.

As I straightened my bag on my shoulder, I swallowed hard and gave James a look. "D'you actually think I have a chance?"

"Thankfully Reagan finished last year - he was absolutely dreadful, but I wouldn't have the heart to not give him the spot since he's been playing since his second year and all. The only people that are trying out for the Seeker position are a score of second years and one fourth year who is almost twice the size of you," James raised an eyebrow, then ran his eyes up and down my body in an appraising way. "I wish I wouldn't have to put the others through trials and just give it to you now."

I felt myself flush slightly and turned away until the feeling passed.

"I left my broom at home," I admitted, giving him a worried look.

"You can borrow mine - it's in the broom shed," James offered. "I have a Nimbus 1500."

I felt my jaw drop and my eyes widen in shock. "Are you serious? You left that down in the shed?"

"Yeah, my mum and dad got me one for my birthday over the summer," James smirked, obviously amused by my reaction. "It's hidden; no one would be able to find it unless they knew where it was, believe me."

"I'm still on a 1000," I sighed, my eyes still wide.

"It's one of the upsides of being an only child," James shrugged. "But, c'mon, we have to hurry - I told everyone to be here nearly at noon and it's nearly quarter past."

Once they reached the pitch, James gave me a smile and quick good luck before sprinting into the middle of the pitch, where a group of about thirty students were standing in groups, broomsticks varying from the school's ancient ones to some of the newest models of Nimbuses and Comets in their hands. Before I joined the group, I hurried to fetch James's broom from his hiding place.

" - and I really don't want to have to deal with a bunch of complaints if you aren't chosen for the team," James was saying as I hurried forward, standing next to some old faces on the team, Wynn McDougal and Julia Cunningham, both seventh years, who gave me a nod of recognition. "So, if turned down you can either leave the pitch or wait patiently in the stands. If you are chosen, please wait so I can give you instructions on when we will be holding out first practice."

James let out a large breath, then gave them a wry smile. "The order of the trials is going to be Chasers, Beaters, Keeper, and Seeker." He took a moment to glance at me, which caused me to squirm slightly. "Well, why don't we just start?"

It didn't take terribly long for James to choose two other Chasers. Julia was given her spot back without much competition and was joined with Roger Brown, who was a very quick fourth year who had managed to not only steal the Quaffle from Julia, but score from nearly twenty-five meters away from the goal post. Roger and Julie sat behind James while a score of Gryffindors, all giving James angry looks, despite how obvious it was that the two he chose were perfect for the spots, filed into the stands on the other side of the field.

James chose a set of siblings for the two Beater positions - Karen and Aaron Newsome, a seventh and fifth year, respectively. As for the Keeper, James welcomed Wynn McDougal back with open arms, especially after watching six hopefuls miss every Quaffle thrown in by Julia and Roger.

When it finally came to the Seeker trial, I couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. While the fourth year did look as though his broom would hardly be able to hold him up and the second years were looking at their brooms as though they didn't know how to work them, I began to feel the beginnings of stage fright in my stomach.

"I'm going to make this a simple test," James sighed, looking weary and ready to be finished with trials. "In this bag are six Snitches. Whoever catches on first gets the spot."

I sent James a look of despair. Sure, I was able to catch his Snitch easily, but that was always in closed quarters, not in the middle of an open space. However, James gave me an encouraging smile, which made me feel a bit better.

"Here goes," James said simply, opening the bag and allowing the Snitches to hover in the air for a few seconds, before they flew off in six different directions. After a few seconds head start, James nodded at the six of us.

Before I could even make notice of what the other tryouts were doing, I mounted and kicked off on James's broom and was speeding through the air.

"Bloody hell," I remarked, amazed at how much better this broom was than mine was. Maybe if I made it on the team my dad would try to talk my mum into upgrading my broom.

Shaking off the thoughts of a possible new broom, I scanned the air quickly in search for a golden streak. I noticed that one of the second years was having difficulty keeping his broom above three feet in the air and the others were cheering him on half-heartedly. The fourth year, on the other hand, was able to keep his own much better than I would have expected, so I began to search more earnestly.

After a few moments, I noticed a golden glint from underneath one of the goal posts. Before thinking twice, I urged the broom forward, streaking across the field. I could barely hear cheering from the other members of the team as I willed the broom to go faster. Reaching forward, but not slowing down, I felt my hand close around the golden ball. I did an immediate 360° turn and streaked to the ground, landing daintily on my feet in front of James and the rest of the team, who all looked quite pleased.

"Allie, you did that in less than three minutes!" James exclaimed, rushing forward and wrapping his arms around me before lowering his voice. "I'd like to hear complaints about you only getting the position because you're my girlfriend now."

_'Your girlfriend,'_ I thought to myself, a smile playing on my lips as James kissed me hard on the cheek before addressing the rest of the team.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Oh, Quidditch. You have to love it. Anyways, thanks for reading and please let us know what you think!_

_kamers_


	5. Come What May, Natalia

Author's Note: Seeing as I have no clue what to do now and kamers left me with nothing to work with, I guess I'll just make things up as I go.

**x**_o_**x**_o_**x**

**Whisper of a Thrill  
****_CHAPTER FIVE: Come What May_**

Storm clouds may gather  
And stars may collide  
But I love you, I love you,  
Until the end of time

I plopped down on my favorite scarlet-and-gold pinstriped cushioned chair in the Gryffindor common room that evening. Allie and James had been gone for hours and I knew it couldn't just be for tryouts – the other hopefuls had long ago come in from the field with disappointed looks on their sorry faces. I smirked and set a thick, pink journal on my lap. "Allie" was scrawled across the front in thick black ink with a child-like flower drawn beneath it. It was old and battered, from when Allie was five years old. Allie rarely got new things, but I think that her journal is the only thing she doesn't mind being old. My own journal, personally, was blue, leather-bound, and a maximum of two years old. Then again, I only wrote in it when something was truly troubling me, whilst Allie wrote in hers nightly. It was thanks to a convenient Refilling Spell that she hadn't run out of paper in almost eleven years.

Muttering a few words and waving my wand, I quickly broke through the few fragile enchantments she had for diary security. Honestly, I'd only read her diary on two other occasions, once in our second year after my mother died and once in our fifth year when I began dating Sirius. I decided that now I would get to the bottom of this James mystery. I flipped through the pages until I found last night's entry.

_September 13, 1974_

_So, I'm dating James Potter. I can still hardly believe that I can write that and not have it be a total lie. I'm still a little shocked. Everyone is finally passed the, "Are you sure you're dating?" or "Kiss NOW" thoughts, so it's finally actually settling in my brain that it's really happening. I've liked James for quite some time now - who would've thought? But it's like…now that we're dating and he's starting to tone down all of the dumb habits he used to have (hexing random people, playing with that stupid Snitch, all the big Jamesisms), he's been a bit more…er…not interesting. I know - it makes no sense. It was the only thing that I could actually agree with Evans on, actually. But, now he just doesn't seem as James as he used to be. Maybe it's just the shock… I'm sure I'll get used to it in time._

Well, that I knew. She'd already told me that much - that he was acting differently. Maybe if I flipped through to September 1st…

"What's _that_, Natalia?"

I jumped as someone suddenly loomed over my shoulder. I slammed the book shut and spun around, falling out of the chair as I did so. I bumped my head on the thick carpet and for a second my vision spun. After a second, though, I could focus enough to see that my attacker was the great Remus Lupin.

"Bloody hell…"

"It's not nice to swear," he mock chided, taking my seat. That was no problem, however, for I promptly got up and sat on him, setting Allie's diary in his hands. "So you're reading her diary again? Anything interesting?"

I shook my head. "Nothing I didn't already know. And as for the 'again' part, this is really only the third time I've ever read it."

He gave me a skeptical look.

"Honest!"

"Okay, I believe you. So what were you looking for this time?" He pushed some of my red hair behind my ear and put his arms loosely around me. I leaned my head on his chest, breathing softly. Remus was a great mate to just have sometimes.

"A clue as to why Prongs is really dating Nat. I still don't believe it."

He chuckled softly. "I didn't at first either, but they seem pretty happy with each other. Maybe it's real…"

"Maybe… And maybe you won't turn into a bloodthirsty monster in three days." I grinned up at him to show that I was only teasing, but it was unnecessary as he was quite used to my odd sense of humor after all these years.

"Maybe." He grinned back. We just grinned at each other for a second before he suddenly averted his eyes, a look of pain shooting across his face.

"Remmy?" I asked, shocked. By the way, I'm the only one allowed to call him that. He stood up sharply and I nearly fell off him. "What's wrong?"

"I think Sirius was looking for you earlier."

"Remmy-?"

"I'll tell him I found you."

"Remus!"

He turned sharply and stomped up the stairs to his dormitory.

Ouch.

What the bloody hell was that? Had I done something? Was it my comment about his transformations? It couldn't be that… I've always said stuff like that! It's just how I am! I could feel angry tears threatening to fall and ran up the stairs into my own dormitory. When I got up there, only Lily and Dorcas were there, and Dorcas was on her way out. I plopped down beside my trunk and pretended to be rummaging through it for something as I forced myself to swallow my sudden uncharacteristic burst of emotion. As soon as I was calm, I pulled out a random book – my age-old copy of _Hogwarts, A History_ – and sat down on my bed. It was only after five minutes of pretending to read that I noticed Evans was staring at me, a troubled expression on her face.

Great. More drama.

"Yes?" I asked her, not looking up.

"Nothing, nothing," she said, shaking her head. However, she continued to stare at me.

Merlin, that girl is odd.

"If it's nothing, Evans, than why do you continue to stare at me as if I've grown another head, which I haven't." I felt my neck to be sure. "Nope, still only one."

Okay, so maybe _I'm_ a little odd, but in this world of magic, anything could happen.

"No, I just… I was wondering if I could…talk to you?"

I raised my eyebrow, putting away my book and turning to face her. "Okay. Although, I must warn you that I'm currently in an unstable mental and emotional state."

She looked for a moment as if she didn't know whether or not to laugh, and eventually settled with a sort of half-grin, half-grimace thing. "Well, uh… Does Potter really fancy Batsakis?"

"Wow." My eyebrows shot up higher than I ever thought possible. What should I tell her? The honest answer: No, he's only dating her to make you jealous enough to like him and it's apparently working. The answer I knew I should give her for James and Allie's sake: Yes, he does really like her. Seeing as I was only acting on theory with the first one and I'm just too wonderful a person to ruin James' plot, I chose the dishonest answer. "Yeah, he does. Why?"

"Just curious…" She turned away for a moment and I started to do the same when she blurted out, "But why'd he stop liking me?"

"Excuse me?"

"Er, why'd he decide to not fancy me anymore?"

"What, do you want him to?" This girl was annoying. For years she'd been shooting him down, and now she wanted to know why he didn't like her anymore? Told you she was the odd one, not me. "You've been telling him time after time to get over himself – and you, for that matter – and now he has. IT's really very simple."

"I guess… It was just… I've kind of grown used to it, you know? The constant cat-calling and asking for dates, the never-ending surprise snogging and mid-hallway serenades. It was kinda…I dunno."

"Flattering?" I supplied helpfully – cause I'm just that helpful, you know.

"Yeah, I guess. In an annoying kind of way, it was really flattering to know someone fancied you so much that they'd never give up no matter what everyone was telling them."

"And then he gave up," I said simply, understanding perfectly.

"Yeah…"

I caught a flicker of something in her eyes and recognized it instantly as the flicker Allie got when she looked at James, or when I looked at Sirius. "Do you fancy him, Evans?"

"No!" she exclaimed, trying to appear horrified, but failing rather miserably. "No, it's just quite a change to get used to, you know?"

I decided to let her get away with her obvious lie. "Yeah, I know. Listen, you'll adjust. Things are different for all of us, lately."

She nodded. "Thanks, Natalia."

"It's Nat," I corrected amiably.

She grinned. "Okay, thanks, Nat."

"Anytime, Lily."

We both lay down and went to sleep.

**x**_o_**x**_o_**x**

I woke up the next morning feeling quite hyperactive. In fact, I skipped around the common room before breakfast singing The Witching Hour's latest hit "You're my Elixir" – which I only know half the words to – for a half-hour before Allie dragged me to a chair and forced me to sit and be quiet. The younger students were giving me very strange looks.

"Morning, Allie!" I sang.

"Good morning, Nat. What have you been drinking?"

"Nothing, actually. A first, I know. So did you make the team?"

She broke out grinning. "Yes! And James's broom is amazing! It's such an amazing flier! Even that Gwenog Jones girl in Hufflepuff is gonna have to look out once my dad convinces my mom to get me one of those!"

"So, what took you so long getting in after practice?"

She flushed. "Er, actually, we went down by the lake together. It's really very pretty out there at night."

"The lake at night, huh?" I wagged my eyebrows at her.

She threw a pillow at me. "Nothing happened, Nat!"

"Poor thing…"

She just glared.

"You know what, Allie?"

"What, Nat?"

"I love you, Allie."

"I love you too, Nat."

"Like, you're going to be my head bridesmaid thingy at my wedding." I paused. "Or whatever it's called."

She raised an eyebrow. "Maid of honor?"

"Yeah, that thing!"

"Git."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing!" She smiled in her falsely innocent way. I threw at her the pillow she had previously chucked at me. "Nat, you are way too hyper, you know that? What upset you?"

I frowned. She had this odd ability to decipher my odd moods. Best friends were annoying that way. "Remus." I told her the story.

"Oh, that? That's cause he likes you, Nat."

"What!" I exclaimed.

"Did you honestly not figure that out? You can be so thick sometimes, you know that?"

"Gee, thanks, Allie."

She grinned, but then her face turned serious. "He likes you like I like James, Nat. He's bound to get a little pissy, and the full moon is coming up. Just let it go."

I didn't say anything. I just nodded and headed out the portrait hole to go down to breakfast early, humming "You're my Elixir" as I went.

**x**_o_**x**_o_**x**

Author's Note: Hello, dear fans! I wrote another one! Yay! I'm hyper. And its 3:52 AM. That would explain the oddness of that last bit. But yeah. I'm gonna put this up now, so review it and tell us what you think!

-Carp


	6. Aludra's Gold

_**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "Gold" is by Linda Eder and we do not, in any way, own it._

**Whisper of a Thrill  
Chapter Six: Gold**

_You have to live the life you're given  
And never close your eyes  
You hold on and stare into the skies  
And burn against cold  
For any moment, you might find the gold_

Just keep running.

I had never done well with emotions. To me tears were a sign of weakness - a white flag to the world that I wasn't strong enough and I couldn't, no, wouldn't have that. So, rather than crying, I ran. At home I would run through the trails my brother, Remus, and I had sculpted through the forest that was our back yard when we were younger. At Hogwarts, however, I wasn't about to wander the Forbidden Forest (not without the others, of course), so I opted for a much safer venue: the Quidditch pitch. By running, I could push away my temper, allow my mind to free itself, and work myself through the problem. If I didn't, I more often than not ended in detention or the Hospital Wing. I'd always had a hot temper and I knew that it stemmed from my childhood.

My dad and Remus's dad were old Hogwarts friends, so they were more than delighted when the two of us were born at the same time. I honestly don't know if we would have ended up being best friends without our fathers' influences. After Remus was bitten, my mum seemed to change her views on the Lupin family. She seemed to think that Remus could change at any given moment and, for "my safety," had tried to end my play dates.

Naturally, this didn't go over terribly well for me. My dad thought the whole notion was daft and would normally override my mum, but he was often out of town for work. No matter how much I would yell, scream, threaten, or cry, my mum would never give in. I would go weeks without seeing my best friend, while my sisters were always with their own friends. It was when I was nine that I realized my tantrums got me nowhere, so I began to run.

I didn't care that I was wearing my school uniform and my books were scattered around the field from when I threw my bag off my shoulder. I didn't care that I had lost one of my dilapidated Converse on the opposite side of the pitch. I didn't care that my hair was falling out of the loose braid I had quickly put it in that morning, to hide that I had woken up late and hadn't had time to shower. I just knew that if I kept on running, everything would get better.

I forced myself to think back to only a half hour ago, when I arrived in the Great Hall with Nat, James, and Sirius after Herbology. We had been discussing the Venomous Tentacula that had nearly thrown James into cardiac arrest when it had surprised him from behind.

"Honestly, Prongs, you should've seen your face," Sirius said for the umpteenth time, sitting down at the Gryffindor table for lunch.

"It was a bit amusing," Nat agreed, her grin showing that she found the situation much more than "a bit" amusing.

"Oh, sod off," James grumbled, sick of being the object of scorn.

"Really, guys, why don't you - "

I was about to tell the two off, but I noticed a tawny owl swoop into the Great Hall with a long package attached to its leg. Owls rarely came into the Hall after morning post, so I wasn't the only one gawking at the owl. Then, I recognized it as my own owl.

"Brilliant! Chara's back already with my broom!" I had written my dad the Monday after Quidditch tryouts asking for him to send me my broom and letting him know that if he wanted to buy me a new broom, he was more than welcome to it.

To my surprise, though, rather than flying across the Hall to where I was sitting, Chara swooped short to the Hufflepuff table. Furrowing my brow, I recognized the back of Iris's head tending to my owl, Calysta sliding down to investigate.

"Why did she go to my sisters?" I mused, craning my neck to see across the Ravenclaw table and felt my hopes fall through my feet when Iris looked over and met my eye, a malicious look on her face.

"Uh-oh," I said quietly, swallowing hard.

"What?" Nat asked, her red hair flipping as she swung around to see what I was talking about.

"I, er, I'll be right back," I said quickly, getting to my feet.

James looked up, concerned, and asked, "D'you want me to come with?"

"No, I'll be fine," I tried to put on a smile.

"Maybe your mum wrote them a letter, too?" Sirius suggested, although his face betrayed his enthusiastic voice.

"Maybe," I agreed half-heartedly, then slowly retreated from the solace of scarlet and gold and into the sea of yellow and black.

I counted my steps, allowing it to double as an anger management technique. My sisters and I don't exactly…mesh. I had a bad feeling that this wasn't going to over well and usually my feelings were pretty accurate.

3...2...1.

"Iris, did Dad have anything in there for me?" I asked and Chara gave me a happy hoot of welcome and spun around me before taking off out of the Hall.

"What would make you think that, Aludra?" Iris asked, giving Calysta a knowing look over her shoulder.

"Look, Iris, I really don't want to deal with this right now," I said in an exasperated manner, running an annoyed hand through my hair. "Can I just have my broom, please?"

"_Your_ broom?"

These two words would forever change my life. I felt words catch in my throat and I ignored the lump that was rising. I looked at the beauty that was Iris, her long, straight black hair easily brushing her lower back and dancing brown eyes. I even spared a glance to Calysta, thinking my youngest sibling might have a change of heart, but her matching brown eyes looked exactly like our sisters'.

"What are you on about, Iris?" I asked, struggling to control my voice.

"This is actually Calysta's broom," Iris smirked, reaching forward to rip the wrapping off of the package and opening the box. Inside laid my trust Nimbus 1000.

"Iris, that is my broom," I said forcefully, reaching forward to grab it, nearly taking knocking over a girl close by.

"Not anymore," Calysta spoke up, her lip curled into a happy sneer. "I made it onto the Hufflepuff Quidditch team who, in case you didn't notice, have won the Quidditch Cup for three years running now. I'm a Chaser."

"Not with your help, obviously," I pointed out. "That is my broom. Dad bought it for _me_ for _my_ tenth birthday."

"And now it's mine," Calysta said, waving a piece of parchment in front of me.

I snatched it quickly away from her and narrowed my eyes. This had to be some sort of lame joke my sisters had thought hilarious. Not even my mum would take my own broom away from me. It was one of the few things that I enjoyed anymore.

_"Dear Aludra, Iris, & Calysta,_

_"Your father is on business yet again. Sadly, he wasn't able to see your letters, but I will pass on the good thoughts and events._

_"I am glad to hear that the two of you are off to a good start this year. Iris, I couldn't be prouder of you becoming prefect. I'm sure you will even attain more OWLs than your older siblings managed. Calysta, congratulations to making it onto the Quidditch team! The both of you couldn't make your mother prouder. Aludra, your sisters brought it to my attention that you are now dating that cheeky Potter boy that I have had the misfortune of meeting in the past. You are aware of my feelings regarding not only him, but your other friends as well. Those boys, especially Lupin, and that Natalia are bad influences on you. Why don't you try befriending Sarah Wickersham? Her mum is just lovely._

_"Calysta, I have decided that because you were bestowed such a wonderful honour of being able to play Quidditch at school, you can have Aludra's broom. I regret that it is as old as it is, but I know you will fly beautifully. I'm sure that it will suit you much better than Aludra, as the Gryffindor Quidditch team has never been up to par with proud Hufflepuff._

_"Love, Mum"_

Don't react. Don't cry. Don't shout.

I swallowed hard, pocketed the letter, and gave Calysta a stiff nod. "Well, then. Good luck."

As I spun on my heel, my head was filled with the sound of my sisters' laughter. I hurried down the aisle and back to the Gryffindor table, where my friends were sitting, now joined by Peter as well. Determined not to give my sisters the amusement of just how hurt I was, I reached over and shouldered my bag, knowing that if I had to watch them throughout the rest of lunch I would snap.

"What's up?" James asked, looking concerned. He reached forward and tried to take hold of my hand, but I withdrew it before he could touch it.

"Nothing," I lied. "I'm not hungry. I'll see you lot later."

As the emotions surged back through my veins, I pushed myself harder, feeling my brown hair whip back and forth behind me. I pounded my feet harder against the green grass. I wasn't going to be satisfied until I wore a path around the field.

Of course my dad wasn't home - how daft was I? He had told me before I had left for school that he wasn't going to be back in England until the end of September, if not later. My dad had a high paying Ministry job that forced him to be out of town often.

My dad and I had an amazing relationship. I knew that I would always be daddy's little girl, which is why I couldn't wait for him to come home and tell my mum off. I knew that I would never see my broom again, though, unless Calysta was riding it. Try as he might, my dad was never able to say no to my mum, even for me.

I felt my legs starting to slow, chest heaving from the hard run. As I turned the corner of the pitch, I saw someone walking toward me. When he saw that I saw him, he dropped his bag to the ground and took off at a run. Once we reached each other, I allowed Remus's arms to envelope me. I sunk into his chest, my legs wobbly from running.

"Why have you been crying?" Remus asked quietly, running his fingers through my hair.

"I haven't been," I replied just as quietly, breathing hard.

"You're running," Remus pointed out. "It's the same thing when it comes to you."

Damn best friends for knowing everything. I pulled away from him and caught my breath.

"You're back from the Hospital Wing early," I pointed out, trying to change the subject.

"It wasn't a terrible night," Remus shrugged, and then noticed what I was doing. Giving me a stern look, he said, "Madam Pomfrey let me out just in time for afters without lunch, so I went into the Great Hall. Padfoot and Nat were still there and they filled me in on your sudden flight."

"They did, did they?" I asked, starting to walk to pick up my dropped items that were scattered across the field.

"I'd love to hear your side of the story, though," Remus followed me. "Padfoot can be pretty wonky if he tries hard enough."

I gave Remus a smile and launched into the story. The best thing about Remus is how amazing of a listener he is. I could tell him about anything - from an ingrown toenail to homework - and he'll listen intently, as though I was telling him the meaning of life. He never interrupts and always knows when to gasp, laugh, or nod appreciatively.

After I finished, I bent over and picked up my shoe, allowing him to digest it. I straightened the tongue and spared him a look.

"What do you think?" I asked.

"I think your mum is mental, but that much is obvious," Remus smirked. "I also wish she'd stop thinking of _me_ as the bad influence."

"No kidding, you swotty little pansy boy," I threw my shoe at him.

"You can shut your mouth," Remus replied, chucking the shoe back at me so I could put it on my now grass stained foot.

Remus and I fell silent as we continued walking toward where my black robes were sitting in a pile on the grass.

"Are you going to be okay?" Remus asked tenderly.

"Oh, yeah, don't worry about me," I replied a bit too quickly and pompously to be even halfway believable. "Well, I'm used to it."

"What are you going to fly on?" Remus asked.

"Well, I'm going to owl my dad, of course," I said darkly. "Maybe he can talk some sense into her or something. In the meantime, though, I guess I'll just use one of the school brooms."

"Those are ancient brooms, Allie," Remus pointed out.

"D'you have a better idea?" I asked. "Maybe I can ask Filch if I can borrow his mop."

Remus let out a laugh as I gathered my robes, shaking the grass out of them and throwing them over my shoulders.

"You know, I turn seventeen in a few weeks," I pointed out, continuing onward to my bag. "Maybe I'll move out and get a flat."

"Maybe you and Padfoot could bunk together," Remus suggested. "He always says that this is the year he's going to ditch his family."

I let out a short laugh. "He's also been saying that for five years now."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he did it this year, though," Remus mused. "His letters were quite desperate this summer."

"I noticed," I said quietly, then dropped to my knees and gathered my books together. "Oh, I was wondering - if things go, well, awry over the Christmas Holiday, could I stay with you lot?"

"Of course," Remus shrugged as I stood up and shouldered my bag. "My mum and dad are in love with you. They'd be beside themselves if we ever got together."

"Oh, please, Remus," I scrunched up my nose. "No offence, but that's revolting."

Remus let out a laugh and shook his head. "To think you used to say that about James."

"That's different - " I started, but was interrupted by the bell signalling that another class would be starting shortly. "Oh, bloody, I have my Astronomy lecture right now. I'll see you later."

"Sure thing," Remus replied as I started off toward the school.

"Oh, and, Remus," I said, turning and walking backward. "Thanks."

Remus gave me a smile and nodded. I returned the smile, and then took off at a run toward the school.

* * *

I hung back in the Astronomy Tower, not especially excited to go down to the common room and have to endure the questioning looks of my friends. As I slowly put my notes and book into my bag, I jumped when someone tapped me on the back. 

"Bloody hell, Sirius," I said roughly, shaking my head at him as he laughed at my reaction.

"Nice entrance, by the way," Sirius smirked. "I especially liked how you let Professor Mona pick up the star charts by himself."

"To be honest, I didn't even notice I knocked him over until after I sat down," I admitted, getting to my feet.

Sirius let out an appreciative laugh. "I'd saved you a seat."

"I didn't notice, sorry," I apologized, biting my lip. "My brain has been elsewhere lately."

"You're okay, though, right?" Sirius asked, his eyes more serious than I had ever seen them. "I know you don't get along well with your family - "

"What makes you say that?" I snapped, and then wished I could take it back. "Sorry."

"As someone who hasn't gotten along with his own family for years," Sirius started, ignoring my outburst, "it's pretty obvious to recognize."

"Well, it happens," I admitted with a shrug. "It shouldn't, but it does."

"You can say that again," Sirius nodded. "Well, look, I'm going to be late for Muggle Studies if I don't leave about three minutes ago. But, you know, if you need to talk or anything - "

"I'm fine, Sirius," I interrupted.

"No, honestly, Allie," Sirius said sternly. "We have a lot more in common than I think you'll let yourself recognize."

Surprised, I didn't say anything for a moment, then opted for, "Maybe you're not as wonky as Remus says."

"Did he really say I'm wonky?" Sirius asked, feigning shock. "Why, that smarmy berk - "

I laughed. "Thanks, Sirius."

"It's what I do," he smiled. "I'll see you at dinner."

Sirius took off out of the Astronomy Tower and I watched him leave. Not for the first time, I couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness just because of my friends. While we were definitely a group of misfits - James and Sirius, the popular attention seekers; Remus, the bookworm; Peter, the sometimes overlooked; Nat, the oddball; and me, the tomboy rebel without a cause - we had a friendship that I had never been able to see in other cliques around Hogwarts.

Besides, you're always going to remember the ones who were always by your side - even when you grow old. They'll be the ones who are still right there by your side.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **Ooo, got some Sirius in there to make y'all happy. I really enjoyed writing this chapter for some reason. Hmm. By the way, the song "Gold" is probably one of the most uplifting songs I've ever heard. It's amazing and..yeah. It's a great song and I recommend it, especially if you like Broadway style music._

_Anyways, let us know what you think and thanks for reading!_

_kamers_


	7. Narcolepsy of Natalia

**CHAPTER SEVEN  
**_Narcolepsy _

i get upset or happy  
i go to sleep  
nothing hurts when  
i go to sleep  
but i'm not tired  
i'm not tired

To-do list:

1. Find out the _real_ reason why Sirius was late to Muggle Studies this afternoon.

2. Find out why Allie was running.

3. Find out what Dad wrote Peter and why he didn't write me.

4. Avoid Remus at all costs.

5. Ignore the questions people are giving me as to why I'm avoiding Remus.

6. Get Allie's birthday present.

7. Decide what I'm buying Allie for her birthday present.

8. Practice apology for when I show up Sunday without a gift.

Wow, that's not a friendly-looking list, you know that?

Two seemed the easiest, so as soon as I could I found Allie and cornered her in the dormitory, since we had a free period, and our oh-so-friendly dorm-mates did not. I found her curled up on her bed trying to catch a bit more sleep before N.E.W.T. Potions. She grunted her annoyance as I attempted to interrupt this ritual.

"Gerroff, Nat…"

"Wake up, Allie. I need to talk to you."

"No."

"Yes."

"Bloody-! Give it here, Natalia!" I had just jerked the pillow out from under her head. She sat up and tried to grab it from me but I had jumped away and hidden on the other side of Lily's bed, putting it between the two us. She glared at me before Summoning it to her with her wand. It shot out of my hands and into hers. "Go away."

"You're PMSing," I stated matter-of-factly.

"I am not PMSing. I'm just overtired."

"You're PMSing."

She sighed her annoyance. "Yes, Natalia, I'm PMSing."

"You're a grumpy little bugger when you're woken up, you know that?"

She pulled the hangings around her so quickly that I could have sworn I'd heard some of the seams rip from the sudden violent strain.

Okay, so maybe not number two. Let's try a different one. Four and five went hand-in-hand and I obviously couldn't do them only once and be done. So I decided to track down Sirius and attempt to interrogate him once more. Adjusting my tie – which I had on as a headband – and straightening my shirt – which was deliberately inside out – I strode down the stairs, taking them three at a time in my descent – which was quite difficult, I might add. At the very bottom I ran into Sirius, who picked me up and swung me around in greeting.

"Just who I was looking for!" we both said at once.

I laughed, giving him a quick kiss before taking his hand and leading him to sit on a couch. I plopped myself down between his legs and leaning back against him. He set his arms around my waist.

"Who goes first?"

"Ladies first, Siriana," I said teasingly. That was his feminine name that James had given him in the fourth year.

"Oh, but Peter's not in here," he shot back evenly, giving me a grin.

I laughed. "Oh well, then I guess you can go."

"Okay, bye." He pretended to start to get up.

"Hey!" He laughed and settled back down. "Okay, okay. Well, I was going to ask you how Allie's doing. She's been a bit more withdrawn lately and she's been hiding in her room all day."

"She's sleeping and PMSing. Nothing unusual. Why?"

He swallowed and said a little too quickly, "Nothing, just curious."

I gave him a look and he turned away, refusing to meet my gaze. "What's going on, Padfoot? Any why were you late to Muggle Studies? That's the one class you _aren't_ ever late for."

"I … was talking to Allie. Her mom gave Calysta her old broom so now she has to ride the crappy school brooms. She was … really upset."

Why the hell was he being so nervous? He and Allie were friends. They were allowed to talk! "And?"

"And nothing. I just got caught up. Sorry."

"It's not something you need to apologize for, Sirius," I said coolly. "You're acting so strange. All of you have gone off the deep end lately – Allie with freaking out about her mom, James with dating Allie, Remus with getting mad at me for existing, and now you with being so paranoid about telling me you were talking to Allie. It's like you're trying to hide something from me, and it hurts."

I got up and strode out, deciding to spend some time with some friends that would never start acting insane around me – library books.

To my great surprise, however, I ran into Peter in that very same library that I was trying to escape the world in. He was trying to do his History of Magic essay – and failing miserably. When he saw me, he frowned and went back to the paper.

"Hello to you, too," I said to him, far grumpier than I had intended.

"Sorry, I've just got to get this done. We've got Hogsmeade all day tomorrow…" He faded off as he scribbled a few more words onto the parchment.

"So, er, what did my dad write you about?"

That made him stop working. "Oh, er, nothing important. Just said my mom wanted to say hello…"

"You're a horrible liar, Wormtail."

"I know."

"So what was it really about? Me?"

"Er, well, yes…"

"And what did it say?"

"Well, er…" He pretended to be absorbed in looking something up in his text, so I waited patiently and stubbornly. "Fine! He reminded me that Sunday is the anniversary of…of your mum's death and that I'm supposed to be real chummy and nice with you…seeing as we're kinda related…"

"Isn't that just like him…" I growled angrily. I stormed from the library.

Okay, so today sucks.

A lot.

My dad has no tact, Allie is grumpy, Remus is in love with me, and Sirius is an arse.

Sucky.

Sucky sucky sucky.

Maybe I'll go jump in the lake. The squid might be friendly. If he's not, maybe he'll eat me. Either one seems nice.

I'm fine, I swear. Stop giving me those looks.

**x**_o_**x**_o_**x**

Author's Note: Yeah, this sucks. Oh well. You'll get over it. I really didn't know what to write. But yeah… Oh,btw, that song has amazing lyrics if you look at the whole thing. It so fits Nat.

-Carp


	8. Natalia Wishes Aludra a Happy Birthday

**CHAPTER EIGHT  
**_Happy Birthday_

Happy birthday, to you!  
Happy birthday, to you!  
Happy birthday, dear Allie!  
Happy birthday, to you!

I had virtually done everything on my to-do list that Friday. I had confronted Sirius and hit one and two. I accidentally found Peter and figured out why Dad had written him, and I was pretty good and four and five. I had decided what to get Allie, and that in itself eliminated eight. All I had left now was six.

I knew exactly what I was going to get Allie, and James, as it turned out, was thinking along the same exact lines. We rounded up the rest of the Marauders and had everyone contribute to the cost of the expensive gift. James and Sirius, being from wealthy pureblood families, contributed the most money; Peter and I got a fair amount of allowance from my dad so we made up most of the rest; and Remus, the least well-off of the Marauders, added what he could. On that weekend's Hogsmeade trip, Sirius and Remus snuck off to purchase it while we took Allie on a shopping spree at Honeydukes. Then we treated her to a small party at the Three Broomsticks, during which we carved all of our names into the top of "our booth" with Sirius' magical knife. He assured us that the magic of it would make the signatures permanent – they may fade, but never go away completely. At first we were going to make our mark on the bottom of the table where it would be inconspicuous, but it clearly became obvious that this was a horrid idea:

"Crikey, I dropped an earring!" I exclaimed seamlessly, letting the stud fall underneath the table. I ducked under and carved my name in the table.

"Oh, I dropped my quill!" Allie slipped beneath the table.

"Hell, I dropped my pants!" Sirius had his belt undone by the time we could stop him and we decided to just get it over with and carve it on top of the table. We'd take whatever punishment Rosmerta would think to cook up for us later when she discovered it.

So we signed our table. Rosmerta actually walked up behind us as Allie was putting the finishing "bad-ass" touches on her signature. We jumped and Peter made to "nonchalantly" cover the signatures – basically by open-spreading his fingers over them and whistling innocently. Rosmerta actually laughed and set down the tray of butterbeers she was carrying. Holding her hand out for the knife, her mouth curved into a smile that I know the boys were fawning over just then. Instead of taking it away and reprimanding us, she bent down and carved two more words:

"RESERVED FOR"

She handed the knife back to a gaping Sirius. "Now, if I ever catch any of you six vandalizing my property again, I will have you thrown out." She picked up her tray and proceeded to a booth farther back in the pub. We all stared around at each other before we burst out laughing, ending up falling out of our seats and tearing up.

We probably deserved the disgusted looks Narcissa Black and her friends were giving us from a few tables over.

**x**_o_**x**_o_**x**

So we woke up the next day far earlier – around five in the morning thanks to Sirius's _brilliance_ – than Allie and got to work decorating the common room for her. By seven we were finished and the common room was unrecognizable. Every surface was now colored orange, including the all the portraits, whose occupants were looking rather scandalized. There were orange streamers hanging from everything possible, and orange confetti littered the ground and furniture. The Marauders had died their hair orange – with a little resistance on Moony's part, but Sirius "convinced" him – and transformed their robes to a striking orange.

Ah the loyalty of friendship. These guys should have been in Hufflepuff.

By eight-o-clock, when Allie finally decided to make her appearance, James and Peter had fallen asleep on the floor embracing one another quite fondly. It was priceless. I snapped a quick picture for posterity – and blackmail – before turning at Allie's scream-squeal as she stepped onto the plush orange carpet.

"Happy birthday!" I screamed, running at her and tackling her. James and Peter quickly woke up and jumped apart with looks of horror, before James swept her up, spun her around, and kissed her quite passionately. Sirius and I, accompanied by a couple of the small group of onlookers in the entirely orange common room, catcalled and jeered for the whole minute they were in liplock. Finally they separated and the rest of the guys came forth to give her hugs, before I leaped on her again. "You're seventeen, you old hag!"

"Hey!" she exclaimed. "Sirius turned seventeen the first day back! He's older than me!"

"Yes, but he's far too handsome to be a hag," I stated quite seriously.

"Yeah, you're the hag of the group," she shot back, before breaking into a broad grin.

"You're only getting away with that because it's your birthday."

"I know. Now, where are my presents?" She glanced around, but amid all the orange her presents blended in and she couldn't se the stack stashed under a table.

We dragged her over and Peter pushed the pile out. There were the typical things, such as books, chocolate, and (from James) a rather expensive looking diamond choker – complete with black ribbon so as to fit in with her dark motif. But at the bottom of the pile, deliberately placed so, was a long, thin package. She gasped when she saw it, before the wrapping was even off. I squealed, grinning wildly.

"Open it!" I exclaimed.

She tore off the orange paper and out rolled a Nimbus 1700 – the very, very latest model.

"Oh…my…GOD!"

She began to scream, which cause many people to come tumbling out of the dormitories wondering what was the matter. James and Sirius both jumped and clamped hands over her both, Sirius getting there first. After a second, she calmed down, eyes welling up with excited tears but none falling. It was the closest I've ever seen her come to crying and it frightened me a little.

Okay, a lot.

"Allie…?"

"Oh my God, you guys, this must have cost a fortune!" she gasped.

"Yeah, well, we pooled our money," Remus said, looking just as unnerved as I was.

"How can I repay you guys?"

"Go out there and kick some ass next game!" James exclaimed.

That seemed to bring her back to normal and she smiled rather wickedly, though her glossy eyes seemed to slightly dampen the effect. "Calysta will regret ever thinking to curtsy."

And so ended the opening of presents. The day was filled with light partying and eating of cake until Sirius procured a large amount of fire-whiskey that evening. We all drank; even Moony broke his vow of sobriety and had a few shots. Let's just say, after that things got very interesting.

* * *

"Are you happy to be seventeen? James asked, stumbling slightly as he crossed his bedroom, pulling his orange sweater over his head before tugging his dresser drawer open. 

"I suppose," I sighed, watching him from my place on his bed. I heard my words slur slightly and regretted – just a little bit – the amount of firewhiskey I'd drank. I'm the first to admit that I'm a certified lightweight. "It's not a terrible lot different than being sixteen, honestly."

"Well, now you can Apparate and you're technically an adult," James turned, leaning against his dresser and holding a wife beater in front of him.

"I suppose," I nodded, not bothering to look away from his muscular Chaser arms and toned chest. What? I was drunk.

"You don't have to finish school," James pointed out, looking at the shirt in a confused manner.

"Forget how to put that on?"

"I think so," James replied, nodding slowly as he continued watching the shirt. "I mean, no, but… I don't know what I'm talking about."

I let out an amused laugh and managed to get to my feet, staggering over to where James was standing. I took the white garment from him and pulled it over his head. He reciprocated by pulling his hands through the holes of the shirt, then gave me a grin once we were finished.

"That wasn't too hard, was it?" I asked, returning the smile.

"I suppose not," James nodded, leading me back to his bed. We had drunk the official amount of alcohol that induced a snogging session between members of a relationship, hence why we were hiding in his dormitory. Nat and Sirius were busy with each other in the common room – I can just imagine Remus's face – so we weren't terribly worried about anyone finding us fully clothed and only talking in a drunken manner a flight of stairs above them.

James sat down, his back resting against the headboard of his bed, and I fell between his legs, my head resting on his chest. With a great sigh, James wrapped his arms around me.

After a moment's silence, James cleared his throat asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"You know what I mean, Allie."

I chuckled and said, "Go right ahead."

"You liked your gifts, right?"

"Merlin, of course I did!" I exclaimed, looking up at him. "But, you know, you didn't have to get me so much. I mean, the choker _and_ helping with the broom?"

"I think of the broom as an investment," James joked. "If you don't win us the Cup this year, I'll just take it back." He paused, then gave me a questioning look. "And the choker – you like it?"

"It's gorgeous," I nodded, bringing a hand up to where it was around my neck. I ran a finger along the diamonds, scared to ask if they were real. Knowing James and his family, it was probably authentic, but I didn't want to be knowingly spoiled _that_ much. "I love it."

"Good," James leaned his head back again, pleased with my response.

I melted back into his chest, glad to have him for a friend. I thought back to that rather passionate kiss he had given me when I came down to the common room. I had been shocked that he was willing to do something like that in public, but wasn't about to turn it down. There was a small part of me that was hoping maybe, just maybe, he was starting to feel those things I've been feeling all these years.

"Can I ask you a more personal question?" James asked, bringing me back from my thoughts.

"I don't see why not," I agreed, bringing my hands to rest on top of his.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to," James babbled, dancing around the question. "It's just that we've never talked about things like this and - "

"James," I interrupted with a small laugh. "Let's have it."

"Are you still a virgin?"

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"You know," James let out a breath, his chin resting on the top of my head. "Have you ever shagged anyone."

"I know what you mean – I was just shocked," I rolled my eyes, still a bit flabbergasted. "Do you really want to know?"

"You don't have to tell me."

"It's just…sort of embarrassing," I admitted, swallowing hard. "See, the summer before our fifth year I had come off of a bit of a sticky relationship - "

"Theodore Dawson, right?" James spoke up, a hint of amusement in his voice. "I helped in the hexing."

"Glad to hear it," I commented. "Anyways, over the summer I spent a week at Remus's house - "

"Bloody hell," James interrupted. "Moony?"

"Hence why I don't like talking about it," I winced. "Basically, we were both fifteen, a bit curious, and well – the rest is history, as they say." I paused for a moment, then added hastily, "It only happened once. It just didn't feel right. We're not particularly proud of it."

"Wow," James breathed, shifting his weight slightly. "I can't believe Moony isn't a virgin."

"Believe it."

"That's mental."

"Is it really that hard to believe?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A bit," James admitted. "I mean, you two have known each other since birth basically."

"Yes, well, what can you do?" I sighed, wanting desperately for this conversation to be shifted off of me. "What about you?"

"What about me?" James asked dumbly.

"You know what I mean."

"Once," James tightened his grip around me. "It was over this past summer while my parents and I were in France. Her name is Nanette and she didn't speak a word of English."

"Do you speak any French?" I asked, a bit amused.

"Not much."

"That's a touching story, James."

"Can I ask you something else?" James asked, obviously trying to change the subject.

"'Course," I replied, then regretted it slightly.

"Have you and Nat ever regretting being friends with us?"

I felt myself sober up momentarily, not expecting the question. "Of course not."

"I was just thinking, you know," James continued, his voice quiet. "I've always wondered if you'd rather be friends with Lily and the other girls in our year rather than us."

"Absolutely not," I shook my head. "You guys are honestly the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm more than positive that Nat would agree with me. Besides, I'm too much boy to ever be able to keep up with them."

James was silent for a moment, then quietly said, "I think you're a lot more girl than you give yourself credit for, Allie."

I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but I began to realize what was going on as his hands slipped out from underneath my own and slid down my sides, stopping at the sliver of skin that was peaking out between my tight black t-shirt and low-rise jeans. I felt a shiver run through me, but I swallowed hard, trying to push the cloud that was floating in my brain away to no avail.

"James," I said quietly, bringing my hands to his, which were slowly slipping under my shirt, but not making any effort to stop him.

"Hm?" James asked, bending forward and bringing his lips to my right ear.

"What about Lily?" I asked, squirming slightly as James pushed the t-shirt higher, his hands groping the soft skin of my stomach.

"Lily who?" James breathed, his breath warm against my neck.

Those two words seemed enough for me to forget the many reasons that were telling me this was wrong. Not caring about what we'd say to each other come morning, I allowed James to push me onto my back and straddle my hips. I looked up into James's hazel eyes and nearly shouted with joy as I recognized the look of desire in his eyes that I knew were mirroring my own.

Before I knew what was happening, James settled above me and he kissed me in a fashion that was so much different than our quick farewell kisses between classes. He stole my breath as his lips brushed mine and my thoughts went with as his hands danced down my sides. A second brush and my entire brain was humming. Finally, his mouth settled more firmly over my own and I felt as though I had drunk ten times the amount of firewhiskey I had actually managed.

Our mouths separated only long enough to pull both of our shirts off. I found it slightly ironic that I was helping him take the shirt off that I had only moments earlier helped him put on, but rather than commenting, I let him take possession of my mouth once more.

After some very sensual kissing, James took a deep breath and, in a very husky voice, asked, "Allie?"

"Yes?" I whispered, running my hands down his chest to his lightly defined abs.

He ran kisses down my neck and to my collarbone before continuing in the same voice, "Have you really liked me since the third year?"

James surfaced long enough to meet my eyes, a playful expression on his face. In answer, I managed to roll him over so we switched positions. As I brought my lips to his chest, James began to play with the clasp of my bra, his fingers fumbling slightly. I straightened up, pulled it over my head, and threw it over my shoulder in a fluid motion, not concerned about where it landed.

I leaned back over, only worrying about giving him at least one nice sized hickey as a reminder of this for the next day. He began to play with the buttons of my jeans and, taking the hint, I dispelled of them as well, leaving me only in my underwear. James brought the comforter around my hips and began to unbuckle his belt as I returned to my mission, but before I could even properly kiss him, there was a swift slam from behind us, making us both jump.

"Bloody hell!" Nat's voice filled the room, making me jump upward and wrap my arms protectively around my chest. I clamped my eyes shut, praying that I had only imagined her voice, but was let down quite quickly. "I guess they actually _are_ together!"

Taking a deep breath, I managed to look over my shoulder to see Nat and Sirius gazing at James and I, obviously amused at the situation.

"Is there a problem?" I asked, batting my eyelashes at them as James pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Not for you, apparently," Nat grinned, crossing her arms.

"You can leave any moment now," James cleared his throat, pulling the comforter up around me more to better hide my bare upper half.

"All right, all right," Nat smirked, backing out and pushing Sirius along with her. "Close the hangings next time."

I locked eyes with Sirius for a moment and felt uncomfortable, not wanting to know what was going through his head. Then again, surely I had walked in on him and Nat in the exact same position countless times over the summer whenever I stayed at Nat's house. It was the same thing – only with a bit of a role reversal. Nothing new, right?

I fell on my side as James reached up to take Nat's advice, allowing the hangings to swing shut. Once he was finished, James settled next to me, our bodies fitting together perfectly. James kissed my shoulder softly, then sighed deeply.

"Allie?"

"Yes?" I asked as he wrapped his right arm around me, linking his fingers with my own.

"I think we should consider that."

"Consider what?"

"You know – really being together."

I felt my breath catch in my throat, surprised to hear this. Was it just the firewhiskey? Was he going to change his mind come morning? I felt my eyes dart around but relaxed as he tightened his grip on my hand.

"I think so, too," I nodded, but for some reason couldn't help but think back to the look on Sirius's face and in his eyes.

However, just as quickly as the thought had entered my mind, I pushed it away. No – I had James and Sirius had Nat. Two best friends dating best friends. It couldn't be more perfect. Right?

Now if only I could convince myself.

* * *

Eventually, I felt James's breath slow and deepen against my back. Deciding that I should probably just go to my own dormitory and deal with Nat now rather than later and in front of a crowd of people since she was a bitch like that, I carefully untangled myself from James's arms. 

"Mmmwushgoinon?" James murmured, his eyes flickering open a bit.

I smiled down at him and reached down, carefully sliding his glasses out from around his ears and folding them up. He blinked a few times and began to sit up.

"No, go back to sleep," I said, putting my hand on his chest. "I'm going to go to bed now, too."

"All right," James said, then heaved a great sigh.

I carefully escaped James's bed, then realized just how scantily clad I was. Great. Nat was going to have a field day with this one.

I squinted through the darkness and located my jeans, pulling them on over my hips and buttoning them. I couldn't find my bra _or_ my shirt, but did find what looked like a shirt I had seen Sirius had worn a few days earlier. Yeah, Nat was going to love this. As I pulled it over my head, I hoped that no one was down in the common room.

I silently left the room, then hurried down the stairs before a prefect or younger student could intercept me. Both would be bad, as I'd probably get a lecture from the prefect and be giggled at by any student third year on down.

The common room was still a brilliant shade of orange, but the charms were slowly wearing off. The portraits were back to normal, but it was hard to tell if that was because the inhabitants wouldn't stop pestering them to take the charms off or if they wore off naturally. I smiled at the handiwork of my friends, impressed at them.

I began to head toward the entrance to the girls' dormitory, but was stopped when I heard Remus.

"Finally!" he exclaimed, jumping to his feet and elbowing Peter next to him to wake him up

Oh, that's right. It was _their_ dormitory, too.

"Sorry," I apologized sheepishly, crossing my arms over my chest so it wasn't completely obvious I was braless.

"We're used to it," Peter yawned, stretching violently. "Only, usually it's Padfoot and Nat keeping us up."

"Good change of pace," Remus joked, giving me a wink. I love my best friend. "Good night."

"Night," Peter waved over his shoulder, walking by.

I started to leave again, but then noticed that Sirius was sitting by himself near the fireplace. He seemed to be oblivious as to what was going on, which was most unlike him. I glanced around the empty common room and walked toward him, sitting on the arm of the chair next to him.

"You all right?"

Sirius jumped, his eyes wide as he looked at me. "Wow, I completely zoned out."

"I could tell."

"Nice shirt," he smirked, looking at his brown, Chudley Cannons t-shirt. "Looks better on you."

"You might not be getting it back," I shrugged. "You can keep my bra."

Sirius only smiled at this remark, which made me realize that something was _really_ wrong. We've always had the sort of friendship where we could make jokes like that, going back and forth for hours if we really want to. It could get on Nat's nerves every so often. On more than one occasion she had suggested we find a broom cupboard already.

"What's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing," Sirius sighed, leaning forward as though he was about to get up.

"Are you sure?"

"Nope, but it'll work itself out eventually."

Sirius actually got to his feet, so I followed him in suit, but stopped him before he could make a beeline for the entrance to the boys' dormitory.

"Look, like you told me," I started, looking him square in the eye. "If you ever need to talk or anything, I'm more than willing to listen - even if it's about Nat."

Sirius looked like he was going to comment, but just took a step closer to me, staring at my face. I felt a chill go through me – his eyes were every bit as piercing as Nat always said. Before I could react, he put a hand on my cheek. I felt my eyes go wide.

"Thank you. That really means a lot to me."

And then he kissed me.

* * *

_**Kamers's Author's Note:** Uh-oh! What's gonna happen. (-: Oh, I love the suspense. Thanks for reading and please let us know what you think, all right? I've got the next chapter, so it won't take two years to be put up._

_**Carp's Author's Note:** You know, I should hit you for that, but I won't because I know it's true. So yeah. My boyfriend cheated on me with HER! -sobs- Hehe. Kidding. So yeah. I love cliffies, don't you guys? Actually, you prolly don't. Then again, I don't even know what's gonna happen next, so I'm in just as much suspense as you. But oh well…_


	9. Aludra Wants To Be Sedated

_**Disclaimer: **This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The song "I Wanna Be Sedated" is by The Ramones and I do not, in any way, own it._

**  
Whisper of a Thrill  
Chapter Nine: I Wanna Be Sedated**

_Hurry hurry hurry __before I go insane  
__I can't control my fingers  
I can't control my brain  
Oh no, oh no_

Let's recap, shall we?

After I _nearly_ shagged James, who is now actually my boyfriend, Sirius, James's best mate, who is currently dating Nat, my own best mate, was kissing me.

Yes, folks, that's right. Sirius Black was kissing me.

And by me, I do mean Aludra Batsakis.

Up to speed? Great - now maybe you can explain the situation to me.

I stood stock still, my green eyes wide and staring at his closed ones in a very shocked manner. This was not good. Somehow, I didn't think that this would bode well with James and Nat. No, not well at all.

Finally, after what felt like two days rather than a few seconds, I was able to push Sirius away. We stared at each other for a couple seconds in silence, until Sirius's eyes widened, realizing the gravity of what had just happened.

However, before anything could happen, a loud gasp flew across the room from the entrance to the dormitories. The sound seemed to bring Sirius to his senses, making him leap away from me as though I had dragonpox. In my own opinion, that was a bit overdramatic on his part. I'm not _that_ revolting, am I?

"What the _bloody _hell?" Remus exclaimed, his hands flailing wildly quite uncharacteristically as he began to walk toward us.

Crap. This was potentially problematic.

"Er, happy birthday, Allie?" Sirius said unconvincingly, grimacing slightly as Remus stood between the two of us, his face quite feral.

"It's not what it looks like!" I insisted, knowing that whenever someone says that, it only makes it seem even more what it looks like.

"I come down here to fetch _you_ - " Remus pointed at Sirius, " - under the orders of _your_ - " he jerked and pointed at me, "boyfriend and find the two of you locking lips? Right after I found a bra on _my_ bed?"

"Is that where it went to?" I asked quietly, swallowing hard.

Remus gave me an exasperated look and crossed his arms. "Well?"

I blinked a few times before turning on him. "Well what?"

"Well - what the hell's going on?"

"Is that really _any_ of your business, Remus?" I asked in a dark voice, my eyes narrowed. "Just because you happened to burst in - "

"And I'm glad I did!" Remus exclaimed with a shrug. "Who knows how far that could have escalated?"

"Nowhere!"

"Yet here you were snogging - "

"We weren't snogging!"

"It sure looked like it!"

"Remus, I swear, I'll hex you if you don't - "

"Shut up, both of you!" Sirius shouted, looking scandalized at the conversation. "Moony, Allie's right - this has nothing to do with you. However, you're involved now."

"Yes, I'd say I am," Remus replied, sitting in an armchair as though waiting to hear a particularly good story. "Let's have it."

"It's my fault," Sirius admitted, looking preoccupied and avoiding my eye. "I caught Allie off guard."

"I'd say," I agreed, folding my arms in front of me. "After you and Peter left, I came over to see what was going on with Sirius. Then, well, he surprised me."

"She didn't even kiss me back," Sirius continued taking the full blame. "Plus, it was hardly a kiss - you showed up before it could go anywhere."

Remus looked at the two of us appraisingly, as though trying to make sorts as to whether or not this was a plausible story. After a few moments silence, he let out a quiet sigh.

"Well, Padfoot, if you're telling the truth and you did initiate the kiss, I'm thinking you need to work some things out with Nat."

I raised an eyebrow at Remus. I knew full well that Remus had had his eye on Nat for nearly as long as I did James and didn't completely understand why he wasn't making me bring Nat down right this second to break the two up. Then again, I knew that Remus is a good guy and wouldn't want get in the middle of a long-term relationship.

To my surprise, Sirius replied, "I've known this for quite some time, Moony."

My eyes widened and I wished that I could read minds. Nat had _never_ mentioned something to me about potential relationship problems with Sirius and that was the sort of thing best mates were supposed to talk about. Then again, perhaps Nat didn't know that there were problems. Oh, this night was just getting better and better.

"However, we shouldn't tell Prongs or Nat about this," Sirius added and I nodded fervently. I really didn't need another angry best mate _and_ boyfriend.

"I don't know - "

"Remus, this isn't really your affair to meddle in," I said sternly, but softening my glare a bit.

"Please, Moony," Sirius pleaded, just short of getting on his knees. "Don't tell Prongs - "

"Don't tell Prongs what?"

The three of us froze and turned very slowly to where James was striding toward us, his hair mussed comically and shirtless. I grimaced slightly, wondering if hickeys had the possibility to reproduce - kind of like rabbits. How much _did_ I drink?

After a few seconds of guilty silence and skirmish looks, James started to look concerned. I cleared my throat, trying to think fast.

"We were talking about my gifts," I started, glancing around at Sirius and Remus for backup on this. "And, er, I was telling them how much I love the choker you gave me."

"Oh," James raised an eyebrow, looking a bit unconvinced. But, not wanting to press the matter, he shrugged. "All right, well, I was just coming down to make sure Moony and Padfoot weren't in a romantic embrace of some sort, since they were taking ages."

After a hesitated moment, Sirius forced out a laugh, but James didn't seem to notice.

"We do have class tomorrow, you know."

Oh, yeah - we were at school. For some reason I thought I had fallen into some sort of Muggle soap opera Nat and I had made fun of when we nicked one of Lily's magazines once.

"We were just heading up," Sirius nodded, giving Remus a pointed look and avoiding my eye a little bit more.

"Good night, Allie," Remus nodded to me, meeting my eyes. I knew he wouldn't say anything to James, but I also knew that he expected _me_ to.

As they walked away, James walked toward me and I gave him a small smile. He reached forward with one of his large hands and rubbed my upper arm.

"I thought you were going to bed."

"So did I," I let out a laugh. "I should, though, or I'll be quite the crab come morning."

"Wouldn't want that," James nodded, leaning forward and kissing me on the lips.

Feeling a bit awkward because we were standing in the exact same place Sirius and I had just a few moments before, I tried to push past it and put one of my hands behind his head, my fingers buried in his orange streaked hair. Merlin, he kissed brilliantly.

Just before we broke apart, my eyes fluttered open and met Sirius's, who was standing at the entrance to the boys' dormitory, giving me an almost wounded look before hurrying up to his dormitory. After James finally pulled away, it felt as though I had been punched in the stomach.

"Good night," James smiled, and then sidled toward the boys' dormitory.

"Night," I bid him goodbye.

Once I was certain I was completely alone, I fell dramatically into one of the scarlet armchairs and stared deep into the flickers of flame in the fireplace. I was sure there were a few house elves chomping at the bit to clean up after the party my friends threw for me, but I didn't especially care at the moment. My stomach was upset and my mind reeling, promising me that I wouldn't be getting any sleep any time soon.

This wasn't fair! Why should _I_ be the one feeling guilty? I didn't ask for him to kiss me - I didn't even enjoy the kiss. It was a complete shock and I'd hardly even had time to react before Remus burst in on the situation.

I expelled a deep sigh, thinking about my friends. One of the main reasons I loved my group of friends was because of how different our dynamic was than that of the rest of the people in our year. It seemed that at least once a week, Lily, Sarah, and Dorcas were in some sort of row, sending dirty looks across our dormitory and hexing each other being their backs. It was really annoying, honestly, and I had never had that sort of problem with Nat and the boys. We rarely got into any sort of feud and if we did, since the majority of our group was male, the problem was either ignored or resolved quickly and efficiently. It worked for me, as I felt emotions were a waste of time and energy.

Resigning to the fact that if I wanted to get through double Potions without falling asleep in my cauldron – this has happened before and Remus barely saved me before I drowned – I got to my feet and headed up to my dormitory.

I silently eased into our dormitory, glad that everyone was asleep – or at least pretending to be. I changed into a pair of pyjama pants and fell into my bed, quickly bringing my hangings closed around me before anyone could notice my presence. Sometimes, I'd rather be asleep than awake, especially now, when things are dramatic. While my dreams can be exciting and full of drama, I can always handle that by switching it off, whereas I have to deal with the things that happen in real life. It's so convenient.

Too bad there isn't an off switch in real life. You'd think they'd have a potion for that.

* * *

It felt like I had only slept a few minutes before Lily's alarm clock went off the following morning. My head instantly started pounding and I vowed for the umpteenth time that I would never drink again. Ever. 

I rolled over, thinking that I'd just skip breakfast today, especially since my stomach kept flopping. I thought back to the previous day and smiled slightly. The new broom, the necklace, James. However, I couldn't help thinking there was a reason my stomach was flopping.

"Allie!"

Oh, yeah.

My hangings ripped open, revealing Nat, who was lucky enough to never get hungover. I squinted as the morning sun blinded me and pulled myself up into a sitting position. I could see Sarah and Lily starting to get ready, but Dorcas was nowhere in sight.

"Why are you wearing Sirius's shirt?"

"Er…"

"You couldn't find yours, am I right?" Nat laughed, then lowered her voice slightly, although I could see Sarah and Lily inching forward, their attention perked at her last remark. "So, did you?"

I decided to play dumb. "Did I what?"

"Oh, come on, you know what I mean," Nat rolled her eyes, leaning against one of the posts of my four-poster. "Did you and James do the no pants dance?"

I couldn't help but laugh, although it might have also been because of Lily's wide-eyed expression peaking over Nat's shoulder. "In case you don't recall, someone burst in."

"You were in the boys' dormitory?" Sarah spoke up maliciously. "I think that might warrant you losing points - right, Lily?"

"Oh, please, Wickersham," Nat rolled her eyes, flipping her hair as she turned to give the blonde a very aggravated look. "Don't even pretend that you are just exploring when you stumble out of the boys' dormitory at least once a week."

"She has a point, Sarah," Lily nodded, giving Nat a grateful look.

Sarah rolled her eyes, and then got to her feet. "So, you shagged Potter then, Batsakis?"

"No, I did not," I pursed my lips, not wanting to talk about this in front of Lily for some reason. "We've only been dating a few weeks."

Sarah scoffed, gathering her toiletries and a towel. "I give you another week before he's in and out of your pants."

"Sod off, Wickersham," I jumped to my feet menacingly, glad that I was a good four or five inches taller than her. "That's really none of your business."

With another derisive snort, Sarah hurried across the room and into the bathroom. I began to calm down and was surprised when I met Lily's eyes to see how apologetic they were.

"You need to ignore, Sarah," Lily sighed, pulling out her robes and laying them on her bed. "She doesn't mean half of the things she says."

"It'd be easier to do if I didn't live with her," I scoffed, unsure as to why Lily was being so civil toward me.

Lily nodded, then looked over at Sarah's empty bed. "She drives Dorcas and me crazy sometimes, to be honest. Always so controlling, telling us who we can and can't talk to… It's aggravating."

"Why don't you stand up to her?" Nat asked, looking incredulous.

"You don't know her like we do," Lily shrugged, and then folded her own towel over her arm. "Besides, I could ask you the same thing about why you can stand hanging out with those boys."

"You _definitely_ don't know them like we do," I managed a smile.

Lily nodded, starting to walk across the room to take a shower. "See? We're not that different."

Once she was gone, Nat pounced, much like I was expecting her to do. This was the scary part.

"When did you get in last night?" Nat asked, pulling her curls up into a messy bun on her head. "The last time I remember checking the time it was nearly one in the morning."

"Around that time."

"Poor boys, not able to go upstairs until then," Nat smiled slyly. "I half expected you to stay up there all night."

"That would've gone over well when I tried to sneak down come morning," I smiled. "I stayed up in the common room for a bit before coming up." As soon as it left my mouth, I realized what I had said and wanted desperately to take it back, but I knew I couldn't.

"What were you doing down there?" Nat asked, digging through her trunk.

"Oh, you know," I shrugged, hoping she'd drop it.

"No, I don't, actually," Nat gave me a grin. "Anything of consequence happen that I should know about?"

Before I could even begin to think of something to say, Dorcas entered the room, her hair up in a towel. She gave the two of us a fleeting smile and I shrugged at Nat. She pretended to accept this as a worthy enough answer, although I knew she'd grill me for information later.

Great. Hopefully she'll find Sirius first, because I did _not_ want to have to explain this.

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Whenever I listen to "I Wanna Be Sedated" I feel like I should play Guitar Hero. I'm pretty much amazing at that song. My friend and I like to duel on that one and we always hit every note. Yeah. Good times._

_Anyways, things sure are heating up, eh? Thanks for reading and please let us know what you think! (-: _

_--kamers_


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